A News Released disclosed publicly today July 27th by the City of Riverside that a meeting took place on Friday July 24th with City Manager John Russo and Barbara A. Lee, Director of the Department of Toxic Substance Control for the State of California (DTSC). The DTSC outlined its intent to work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a concurrent review of the site and to identify any appropriate confirmation sampling at the site, which could include sampling of the soil as well as the groundwater. The letter which requested the EPA to step in was sent on July 23rd and is as follows:

The above document indicates that the reason DTSC was requesting EPA’s assistance was a result of a letter received by the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ) March 5, 2015. In this letter CCAEJ alleged that serious problems occurred before and during cleanup activities on the site, and that nearby residents were potentially exposed to toxic substances. CCAEJ requested that DTSC and other environmental agencies, EPA, review the adequacy of the clean-up activities of the site. The main issues the DTSC was asking EPA to review as a result of the CCAEJ allegations were as follows: 1.) Whether any additional soil sampling was necessary onsite and offsite. 2.) Whether any additional ground water monitoring is necessary onsite and offsite. 3.) Whether EPA could provide any assistance to the DTSC in assessing the health related concerns reported by some members of the community around the site. The letter sent to the DTSC by CCAEJ on March 5th is as follows:

The letter from the CCAEJ written to the DTSC stated that the Voluntary Clean Up did not address the following:

1.) AG Park was formerly Camp Anza, a US Army Defense Site, which has potential explosives and chemical warfare material contamination. This presents a grave threat to the residents living on the three sides of this property and to the construction crews who are presently digging trenches for sewer pipes.

2.) The groundwater is contaminated with PCB’s, perchlorate, lead, thallium, dioxin and furans. It should be noted that the ground water flows directly into the Santa Ana River which is a primary source of drinking water for Orange County, therefore poses a real threat to that community as a result of potential substandard water quality.

3.) Sampling of the property was not done according to Federal EPA protocol. It appears that there was “selective sampling” of the property as a result of not following Federal EPA protocol. Therefore, when samples were taken they were not tested for the full range of contaminants such as metals, explosives, perchlorate, dioxin and furans; which are some of the most toxic chemicals known to science.

4.) A survey of the residents surrounding the AG Park indicate an elevated number of cancers which could indicate a cancer cluster.

5.) Dust monitoring logs indicate a high Part Per Million and particles exceeding the 10 micrometers in diameter in July 2013, this exceeds the maximum health level set by the Air Quality Management District (AQMD), thus causing the contamination of adjoining residential properties and injuring the lungs of residents. It also appears that the consultants for the City misinformed the DTSC of the true aspects of the site, rather than indicating it was a sewer site whereby toxins were dumped, they indicated the property as a Riverside City Disposal Site for excavated sidewalks and roadways. Ouch..not cool! Who were the consultants, were they Adkin Engineering? The consultants accordingly did not follow AQMD rule 1150, therefore did not send a report that the levels of PCB contaminants exceeded acceptable levels. Exceeding potential acceptable levels would indicate elevated levels of PCB’s in the air, thus contaminating residential properties and exposing residents to PCB’s.

Cathleen R. Baswell, Administrative Analyst for the City of Riverside, wrote the above letter and filed it with the City Clerk on July 7, 2015. According to the letter, allegations were made that the City of Riverside had no policy or protocol at the time. The protocol was assembled at the last minute and possibly used against the 15 workers, that they were at fault, and didn’t follow protocol. The question is, “Was this assembled protocol used by former City Attorney Greg Priamos when fighting against their workman compensation claims?”

She states in the letter that Brian Nakamura was Public Works Director, while Siobhan Foster was Deputy Director at the time of the 2003 Toxic Sewage Spill. It appears according to the letter that Foster was the “good soldier,” dependable and loyal, and carried out her superiors orders. With that, we now have a prominent UCR Toxicologist, Bob Krieger who lied, and threw what was left of integrity out the door.

TMC thanks Ms. Baswell in bringing this story to the forefront and helping City of Riverside employees and the taxpayers. This places a new light on a culture of cover ups of those in charge who not only endangered employee lives, taxpayer live but created liability for the taxpayers.

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST, “LOW CLASS,” “VISIONS OF GRANDEUR,” “FULL OF B.S.,” “IGNORANT,” “MISGUIDED,” “BULLYISH,” “FILTHY,” “SICK,” “PERVERTED,” “STUPID,” “PATHETIC,” “DESPICABLE,” “DISAPPOINTING,” “BELOW THE BELT,” “A NEW LOW,” “SHOCKING,” “OFFENSIVE,” “INAPPROPRIATE,” “HURTFUL,” “MEAN SPIRITED,” “DISTASTEFUL,” “EMBARRASSING,” HORIFFIC,” “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO THE ACLU. RATED ONETWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVLY EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE (WE BELIEVE THIS WILL END SOON, SINCE THE FOCUS IS NOW ON THE IMPROPRIETIES OF MR. “Z”. WE TRIED TO TELL YOU, BUT NOBODY LISTENED), AND DON’T FORGET WE ARE PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… A STRATEGIC LEGAL MANEUVER THAT CAN BE DONE ONLY IN RIVERSIDE WITHOUT A CONTRACT… AGAIN, THANK YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS! WE JUST CAN’T SPELL! EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT BY CONTACTING US AT: THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM

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I am a resident on farrier ave. I’ve been living here for going on 4 years now and this is new to me. A class action lawsuit should be started. I knew something was up when I seen all the flyers posted around my neighborhood. I went to an environmental meeting at Terrace Elm. But reading all this has me very worried!

Vivían,
Never in my wildest dreams I imagine anyone will hear us. When I first saw the paper trail of the cover up, I immediately thought “this is a Siperfund site”. Everyone at the City, including their attorneys called me”crazy” or “you don’t know what you are talking about”.
Now, I am glad everything is coming out in the open. Thanks to the efforts or countless people, from former workers, residents, activists and agencies like CCAEJ.
And people like you, who keeps us all informed , no matter how uncomfortable the subject might be.
Thank you all for your hard work. You guys kept me going through the darkest times of my life.